Breakfast: Texans storied past with Oakland

Don’t let the Raiders’ 3-6 record fool you.

Don’t let the Raiders’ 3-6 record fool you. Sure this was a historic ‘get-well’ club for the Texans but not as much lately.

Houston leads the series at 5-2 but Oakland has won two of the last four, including an emotional 25-20 decision two years ago on the weekend Al Davis died.

And you certainly remember when, in 2008, the Texans started the year at 3-7, put together four straight victories and were staring down their first winning season. The 15th game had them on the road, fresh off a win against an eventual 13-3 Tennessee team and a triumph at Lambeau Field. JaMarcus Russell and the Raiders would certainly be no problem, right?

Wrong.

Houston came out flat and fell short 27-16, putting the first winning campaign on hold until the next season.

Still, the numbers are lopsided in the Texans’ favor. Houston has committed nine turnovers in the series while Oakland has coughed up the hogskin 21 times.

Terrelle Pryor might not be the second coming of Jim Plunkett but he’s dangerous. A knee injury might slow him down but Wade Phillips pointed out yesterday that he owns the longest run for a quarterback in NFL history (93 yards). And he also told us on Texans Radio that “like Oakland teams have been for a while, they have tremendous speed.”

The Texans have played much better in the last three games than they did earlier in the losing streak. But this is no ‘gimme.’

Oakland has video equipment too and they see that Keenum and the offense have had difficulty reacting to pressure. Expect a steady dose of it, figuratively and literally, as the Texans attempt to avoid extending their record setting slide.